Chelsea have been fined £10m and handed a suspended transfer ban after admitting making £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third-parties over transfers between 2011 and 2018.
The £10m fine is the largest ever imposed by the Premier League, topping the £5.5m fine given to West Ham United in 2007 over the signings of Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez.
However, the Blues avoided a sporting sanction, such as a points deduction, for what the Premier League called “voluntarily self-reporting… historical breaches of rules”.
Chelsea also received an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban and a £750,000 fine over the registration of academy players between 2019 and 2022.
The Premier League’s report named a number of transfers related to the unregistered payments, including those of Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of those players.
Payments to representatives of another four players are detailed by the Premier League. But their names have been redacted in the report. No reasons have yet been given for them not being made public.
The club accepted the charges, which occurred under Roman Abramovich’s ownership.
The Premier League said “undisclosed payments by third parties associated with the club were made to players, unregistered agents and other third parties” for the “benefit or Chelsea”.
The Premier League added that the £10m fine would have been £20m, but was reduced by 50% on account of Chelsea’s proactive self-reporting and co-operation with the process.
Chelsea self-reported the potential breaches after Todd Boehly’s consortium acquired the club in 2022.
The club said: “From the outset of this process, the club has treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators.”
The Premier League said Chelsea would not have breached its Profitability and Sustainability rules during the applicable seasons, even if the payments had been registered and it therefore did not deem a points deduction to be an appropriate punishment.
In 2023, the Blues were fined £8.6m by Uefa for “submitting incomplete financial information” for the period between 2012 and 2019.
A separate FA disciplinary process investigating alleged “use of and the making of payments to unregistered agents” is ongoing.
Chelsea won two Premier League titles, two FA Cups, one Champions League, one Europa League and one League Cup between the period of 2011-2018.
They employed six different permanent managers during the seven-year spell, though there is no suggestion that any head coach was part of the wrongdoing.
Current head coach Liam Rosenior said on Monday it was not a “negative distraction”, adding: “I think actually that’s a line drawn through that issue and we can move on and we can plan to make this club as strong as possible in the long term.”
The signings named in the report
Ramires – £17m from Benfica in August 2010
Luiz – £21.3m from Benfica in February 2011
Hazard – £32m from Lille in June 2012
Schurrle – £18m from Bayer Leverkusen in June 2013
Eto’o – free transfer from Anzhi Makhachkala in August 2013
Willian – £30m from Anzhi Makhachkala in August 2013
Matic – £21m from Benfica in January 2014
Chelsea league finishes and honours in period covered by the charges
Premier League:
2010-11 2nd
2011-12 6th
2012-13 3rd
2013-14 3rd
2014-15 1st
2015-16 10th
2016-17 1st
2017-18 5th
Premier League winners: 2014-15 and 2016-17
FA Cup winners: 2011–12, 2017–18
League Cup winners: 2014–15
Champions League winners: 2011–12
Europa League winners: 2012–13
